All set for Hub Unconference

ZIMBABWE’s premier annual digital media conference, the Hub Unconference, is back with an exciting lineup of speakers from four African countries.

The conference is set to run from September 28 to 29 at Moto Republik, Harare.

It will tackle new trends in content creation, civic tech, and progressive activism in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Running as part of the Shoko Festival programme, the 9th edition of the Hub Unconference has assumed a new format which will see the conference running for two days.

The Hub Unconference is a free-to-attend event that happens on the sidelines of the annual Shoko Festival, Zimbabwe’s longest-running festival of urban culture, which is being held this year under the theme #TheTakeBack. Both the Hub Unconference and Shoko Festival are projects of Magamba Network, Africa’s trailblazing creative and digital media organisation.

Magamba Network Africa Project Officer Nyasha Mukapiko said the programming of the event consists of an exciting cocktail of fireside chats, lighting talks, panel discussions and masterclasses.

“There will be cutting-edge talks by Christopher Kayonga and Timothy Chemonges from Open Parly UG (Uganda), Cayley Clifford from Africa Check (South Africa), Christine Rupiah from The Continent (South Africa), Peter Kimani from CODE for Africa (Kenya), Joscar Amondi from Social Technology Movement (Kenya), Mark Kuggundu from Defend Defenders (Uganda) and leading Zimbabwean academic Professor Admire Mare.

“The masterclasses will focus on many topical issues and trends including graphic design, fact-checking, Tik Tok content and documentary making,” he said.

Mukapiko said they will also host an Africa Satire Convention that will see some of the leading satirists in the country and on the continent taking part.

“The Africa Satire Convention will look at the power of satire in influencing the youths to participate in public processes like registering to vote.

“The Open Data Africa Summit will bring bloggers, academics, leading activists and developers drawn from Africa’s leading open data initiatives from countries such as Uganda, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe who will participate in various panel discussions such as journalism in the age of AI and an Open Parly Africa panel discussion that will focus on media innovation in a captured environment,” said Mukapiko.

He said the Open Data Africa Summit is being hosted with support from the Consortium to Protect Human Rights, Civic Freedoms and Media Development in sub-Saharan Africa (Charm Africa).

“The Charm Consortium has seven members which include Wits Journalism, Réseau des Fe mmes Leaders pour le Développement (RFLD), Defend Defenders, Civil Rights Defenders, Civicus, Fojo Media Institute and Magamba Network.

“In the past editions, the Hub Unconference has hosted prominent local and international speakers such as Alice McCool (The Guardian UK), Robyn Kriel (CNN), Raheela Mohammed (Al Jazeera) and Lindiwe Zulu from the ANC among many others,” said Mukapiko. –@mthabisi_mthire